DOCSLIB.ORG

An Interview with Fred Hellerman Part II May 26, 2016 in This Interview Fred Is Joined by His Wife, Susan Lardner. Ken Edgar

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
An Interview with Fred Hellerman Part II May 26, 2016 in This Interview Fred Is Joined by His Wife, Susan Lardner. Ken Edgar An Interview with Fred Hellerman Part II May 26, 2016 In this interview Fred is joined by his wife, Susan Lardner. Ken Edgar: We are now back in Fred Hellerman's living room and we're continuing our conversation with Fred. We are joined today by Susan Lardner, Fred’s wife, who herself has a very interesting background and career. Together they are going to help us remember their lives in Weston, starting in around 1970. Susan, welcome to the show. When we last left our story we had talked about your arrival in Weston and how Harold Leventhal, the Weaver's manager, had purchased a home near Cobb's Mill and was influential in bringing you up here. As a result, you became interested in Weston and eventually bought the house in which we are sitting today. Susan: I checked with one of Harold's daughters and found out that he had bought his house in 1968 and Fred bought this house in 1969. Although Fred had been up here before visiting other people, he had not been in the house purchasing business. Fred Hellerman: Yeah, coming up there for a weekend. I just fell in love with that immediately. It was a very important place for me. Ken: In the summer of 1970, you two were married right here on this property. Fred: From here, yeah, at this house. Susan: Under the tree, by Euclid Shook. [A Weston artist a justice of the peace. –ed.] Ken: The New York Times did a very interesting description of your wedding. Susan: It was written up because we were the vanguard of the new Charlotte Curtis New York Times social page. She decided to jazz it up. [The article, “Susan Elizabeth Lardner Wed to Fred Hellerman” appeared in the August 9, 1970 edition. –ed.] Ken: We were honored [laughs] here in Weston to have been part of that. The description is somewhat colorful. Fred: Oh, it was a wonderful, wonderful wedding. Susan: There were a couple errors in that New York Times story. I won't specify. Fred: Yeah, it was very well described in the newspapers at the time. Ken: Is the rumor that the number of your guests went skinny dipping naked after the wedding, is that factually correct? Susan: No, absolutely not. Harold Leventhal wouldn’t do that. [Harold Leventhal, manager of The Weavers and Fred’s close friend. –ed.] Fred: No. but it a swell wedding. Susan: It was a respectable bunch. Fred: Alan Arkin was there... Susan: That's right, and my uncle and aunt, Ring Lardner Jr. and Francis, and my sister and brother. Fred: We had all kinds of other people there, I can't remember. Ken: How did you know Alan Arkin? Fred: We knew him through his singing. Actually I knew Alan from the time he was living in California. He wasn't an actor then. He wasn't a singer then. He wasn't anything then. He was a 17 year-old or 15 year-old living there. It was just a few years later that he came to New York and you know, the beginning of a... Susan: Was it Almanac Singers, or what group was it? Fred: I'm not exactly sure what he came into, but he did end up at Bennington College because of the drama school up there and they had no male actors. They were all girls, so they needed a male singer, Alan got a job. [laughs] Ken: He was originally a singer? Fred: He was a would-be actor. Susan: At some point in his life he was part of a singing group, The Babysitters. A very successful singing group.1 Ken: You mentioned that your uncle, Ring Lardner Jr., was there also.2 Susan: Yes, they had bought a house over in Stonybrook. It was very nice to have them here.2 Fred: Yes, it was very nice having them here. Susan: They had lived in New Milford for a while during the time he was blacklisted. Fred: That's after he got out of jail. Susan: But they were basically New Yorkers and they moved here. Fred: They moved because we were here and they would come and visit us. They knew a lot of people here, a lot of actors and a lot of people. It was a wonderful place for us to have them here all the time. Ken: You mention that you still miss Ring Jr. Fred: Yes, yes. They were very wonderful people. I played tennis with Ring a lot. Susan: We have a picture out there of the whole family gathering for Ring and Frances' 80th birthday party. Ken: I wanted to go back a little bit with you, Susan, and just trace your steps toward coming here....You had a career of your own. [How did you happen to end up in] Weston with Fred? Susan: I would say the main incentive was that I reached a point in my life when I wanted to have children. I happened to know Fred at that time. [laughter] We had met around '66 or '67 and what with one thing and another, we decided to go for that. Fred wanted sort of an unparalleled thing; that is, to have a country house. He did some looking around, including at some in Stockbridge, where he had worked with Arlo Guthrie on the “Alice’s Restaurant” movie [Fred wrote some of the music and later produced Arlo’s hit record. --ed.] But he eventually started coming down here because of Harold. I was prepared to move. I wanted to have a baby and that was it. I moved here because Fred moved here. We didn't get married for a while because his mother was sick and we were waiting. We were four months pregnant. She was recovered enough so that she could come to the wedding. Anyway, that's how I landed here and sometimes I say, "What am I doing here?" because I still think of myself as a New Yorker. I go to New York. My doctors are in New York. My dentist, my sister. I'm less of a Westonite than Fred is. Ken: Obviously, you were indirectly affected by the blacklisting [because of your brother]. And Fred, of course, was affected big time. Was that a coincidence? Susan: Obviously, Fred and I are generally on the same wavelength politically, but the blacklist is not really a connection. Well, it is a connection, but an accidental one. Ken: Let’s move on to Weston around 1970 when you all joined hands and were here. Tell us a little bit about Weston in that time. For example, Town Center was a little different than it is today. Susan: I don't remember the market at all from those days, but I remember that on the corner, maybe, where the bank is now, there was a beauty parlor and there was a drug store. Who was running it at that time, I can't remember, but the drugstore had a soda fountain. Behind the fountain was Ethel Keene. I think Keene Park over on the river is named after her. [It is. –ed.] The only other thing I remember was the hardware store that was run by two brothers; I don’t think they were twins. Fred: That little field on River Road became a little park. Susan: Playground. Children's playground. Ken: They named it in her honor. Susan: For whatever reason I don't know. I remember her as somebody behind the fountain. Ken: Did you take your kids there? Susan: We did. Fred: We did? Susan: Yeah. Not a lot. Ken: How about the famous Lunch Box? Was that there at that time? Susan: Yes, there was a Lunch Box. The dry cleaner was in a different place. That was where the market is, on the corner across from the liquor store. I remember the beauty parlor because it seems so strange now. [laughter] I never went to it, though. [laughter] Ken: How about Weston schools? Did your kids go to the Weston schools? Susan: Yes, the kids went to Weston schools. The first place we went to was the Westport-Weston Coop, the pre-school at the Unitarian Church. It’s still there. They both went there. With Simeon, when he was three, I had to spend a year in the corner [of his classroom]. He was happy as long as I was just over there in the corner, but I could not leave without creating chaos. It was a great place. And then yes, they did go to the Weston schools until 9th grade. Then we decided, Fred and I, that there was a bigger world out there and that when you become a teenager in Weston, you're pretty limited. We decided that they should go to Andover, which made them quite miserable. Of course, at the age of 12 or so you have a lot of friends and attachments. We had to battle them, but they went, and enjoyed it, and did well. Ken: Were they commuting, or were they boarding? Susan: The boarding school. One of the things I remember about the schools here in Weston was running a carpool. This was I think, either for the nursery school or the elementary. I drove a Volkswagen Beetle. I had four or five children packed into it. I smoked. [laughter] I picked up kids along Good Hill Road, and one on Steep Hill, I remember. I can't remember his name now.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pete Seegerhas Always Walked the Road Less Traveled. a Tall, Lean Fellow
    Pete Seegerhas always walked the road less traveled. A tall, lean fellow with long arms and legs, high energy and a contagious joy of spjrit, he set everything in motion, singing in that magical voice, his head thrown back as though calling to the heavens, makingyou see that you can change the world, risk everything, do your best, cast away stones. “Bells of Rhymney,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?,” “ One Grain of Sand,” “ Oh, Had I a Golden Thread” ^ songs Right, from top: Seeger, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins and Arlo Guthrie (from left) at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert at Carnegie Hail, 1967; filming “Wasn’t That a Time?," a movie of the Weavers’ 19 8 0 reunion; Seeger with banjo; at Red Above: The Weavers in the early ’50s - Seeger, Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert and Fred Hellerman (from left). Left: Seeger singing on a Rocks, in hillside in El Colorado, 1983; Cerrito, C a l|p in singing for the early '60s. Eleanor Roosevelt, et al., at the opening of the Washington Labor Canteen, 1944; aboard the “Clearwater” on his beloved Hudson River; and a recent photo of Seeger sporting skimmer (above), Above: The Almanac Singers in 1 9 4 1 , with Woody Guthrie on the far left, and Seeger playing banjo. Left: Seeger with his mother, the late Constance Seeger. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE COLLECTION OF HAROLD LEVENTHAL AND THE WOODY GUTHRIE ARCHIVES scattered along our path made with the Weavers - floor behind the couch as ever, while a retinue of like jewels, from the Ronnie Gilbert, Fred in the New York offices his friends performed present into the past, and Hellerman and Lee Hays - of Harold Leventhal, our “ Turn Turn Turn,” back, along the road to swept into listeners’ mutual manager.
    [Show full text]
  • THE CORD WEEKLY January 22Nd, 1 January 22Nd, 1 Hawks Eke out Canadian Roundup Wuc with Barry Dickson Shovel It Says Judge
    THE Evaluation needed if CUS to succeed THREE PRESIDENTS CRITICIZED The Canadian Union of Stud'­ is the main aim, then it is time volvement that Goodings wanted ents should re-examine its posi­ they spent less time runnig con­ a full-time job. ORD tion and determine its objectives tests and making travel arrange­ and it is time that the organizJ.oo ments for university studtmts to McLean further submitted · WEEKLY tion gave more than lip service visit Europe in the summer and that he did not think that the to long term planning if it is to more time pursuing that objec­ present efforts and accomplish­ Voi.IV-No. 12 Waterloo University College Wed,. Jan. 22 be successful. tive. ments of CUS substantiated the costs. December 12th, 1963 These were the words used by McLean continued his attack CUS attacked by Student Council President Archie by stating that when Stewart McLean as he outlined the reas­ Goodings succeeded Walter Mc­ He further accused the present WUC Student Council ons for his support of the with­ Lean as National President, the President, David Jenkins, of 1rndest drawal of Waterloo University objective of CUS was again again redefining the primary ob­ by Ed Neigh jective of CUS. MseLan pointed In a letter of resignation of WUC from Canadian College from the Canadian Union changer, as Goodin.gs stated in of Students. his final report that the student's out that Mr. Jenkins had said [nion of Students, Student Council president Archie Me­ that the primary purpose and y figured a way to catch lao lashed out at what seemed to be the inherent incom­ involvement in the university McLean stated that in the past community cannot be a half­ perhaps the only issue with so ah faked a heart at­ ,etence of the organization.
    [Show full text]
  • The George Washington University Presidential Invitational Tournament February 6, 1994 Semifinal Round the Toss-Ups
    The George Washington University Presidential Invitational Tournament February 6, 1994 Semifinal Round The Toss-Ups 1) His first head coaching experience before the NFL was at a high school in Reno, Nevada, a few years after graduating from Stanford. After winning just nine games in three years, he went back to Stanford, where he became a top-notch assistant coach. He moved to the NFL soon afterward as a running-backs coach. He turned down a slot at the GW Law School to become a head coach for the New York Giants, going 14-18 in his two-year stint. FIP, name this man, whom Dan Reeves replaced. Ray Handley 2) Born in 1934, this author served in the Strategic Air Command for four years before studying German and philosophy at Columbia. His first collection of poems, Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note, reflected the romanticism of the Greenwich Village crowd of his time, but he soon afterward rejected this view for militant Afro-Americanism, as seen in his later plays such as Dutchman and The Slave. FTP, identify this author, who in 1965 chose for himself the name Amiri Baraka. Leroi~ 3) Graham Vivian was an English painter known for his landscapes with arbitrary colors who did famous portraits of Somerset Maugham and Winston Churchill. George was a conservative Supreme Court Justice nominated in 1922 by Warren Harding. Donald is an actor whose credits include M*A*S*H, Animal House, The Firm, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. FrP, what last name do these three people share? Sutherland 4) Shirts bearing his likeness on front and a line from Apocalypse Now, "Charlie Don't Surf," on back, are now very popular.
    [Show full text]
  • Bob Dylan and the Reimagining of Woody Guthrie (January 1968)
    Woody Guthrie Annual, 4 (2018): Carney, “With Electric Breath” “With Electric Breath”: Bob Dylan and the Reimagining of Woody Guthrie (January 1968) Court Carney In 1956, police in New Jersey apprehended Woody Guthrie on the presumption of vagrancy. Then in his mid-40s, Guthrie would spend the next (and last) eleven years of his life in various hospitals: Greystone Park in New Jersey, Brooklyn State Hospital, and, finally, the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, where he died. Woody suffered since the late 1940s when the symptoms of Huntington’s disease first appeared—symptoms that were often confused with alcoholism or mental instability. As Guthrie disappeared from public view in the late 1950s, 1,300 miles away, Bob Dylan was in Hibbing, Minnesota, learning to play doo-wop and Little Richard covers. 1 Young Dylan was about to have his career path illuminated after attending one of Buddy Holly’s final shows. By the time Dylan reached New York in 1961, heavily under the influence of Woody’s music, Guthrie had been hospitalized for almost five years and with his motor skills greatly deteriorated. This meeting between the still stylistically unformed Dylan and Woody—far removed from his 1940s heyday—had the makings of myth, regardless of the blurred details. Whatever transpired between them, the pilgrimage to Woody transfixed Dylan, and the young Minnesotan would go on to model his early career on the elder songwriter’s legacy. More than any other of Woody’s acolytes, Dylan grasped the totality of Guthrie’s vision. Beyond mimicry (and Dylan carefully emulated Woody’s accent, mannerisms, and poses), Dylan almost preternaturally understood the larger implication of Guthrie in ways that eluded other singers and writers at the time.2 As his career took off, however, Dylan began to slough off the more obvious Guthrieisms as he moved towards his electric-charged poetry of 1965-1966.
    [Show full text]
  • Summer Classic Film Series, Now in Its 43Rd Year
    Austin has changed a lot over the past decade, but one tradition you can always count on is the Paramount Summer Classic Film Series, now in its 43rd year. We are presenting more than 110 films this summer, so look forward to more well-preserved film prints and dazzling digital restorations, romance and laughs and thrills and more. Escape the unbearable heat (another Austin tradition that isn’t going anywhere) and join us for a three-month-long celebration of the movies! Films screening at SUMMER CLASSIC FILM SERIES the Paramount will be marked with a , while films screening at Stateside will be marked with an . Presented by: A Weekend to Remember – Thurs, May 24 – Sun, May 27 We’re DEFINITELY Not in Kansas Anymore – Sun, June 3 We get the summer started with a weekend of characters and performers you’ll never forget These characters are stepping very far outside their comfort zones OPENING NIGHT FILM! Peter Sellers turns in not one but three incomparably Back to the Future 50TH ANNIVERSARY! hilarious performances, and director Stanley Kubrick Casablanca delivers pitch-dark comedy in this riotous satire of (1985, 116min/color, 35mm) Michael J. Fox, Planet of the Apes (1942, 102min/b&w, 35mm) Humphrey Bogart, Cold War paranoia that suggests we shouldn’t be as Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Crispin (1968, 112min/color, 35mm) Charlton Heston, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad worried about the bomb as we are about the inept Glover . Directed by Robert Zemeckis . Time travel- Roddy McDowell, and Kim Hunter. Directed by Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre.
    [Show full text]
  • Connecticut Daily Campus ! Sewing Storrs Since 1896
    Phone Your WHUS Marathon Requests Today'8 I Connecticut Daily Campus ! Sewing Storrs Since 1896 VOL. CXVI NO. 113 STORRS, CONNECTICUT TUESDAY. APRIL 23. 1963 Communist Leader To Lecture On Communist Viewpoint In colleges all over the country payments increased only 10%. l significant in the will to act for many students have come to hear During this [>eriod economic stag-: peace. tlie views expressed by Commun- nation sot in" Mr. Johnson dis- He attacks the war attitudes ists. (Jus Hall, Benjamin Davis. cusses a tax program for this of the sects and local churches be- James Jackson, Elizabeth Flynn. session of Congress, financing a longing to the John Birch Society, Arnold Johnson, Carl Winter and tax cut. closing loopholes for cor- the Christian Crusade again-.! other spokesmen for the Com- poration tax evasion, reducing Communism and other reaction- munist Parly have spoken to armament Spending, and the eco- ary organizations. He believes overt'lowing crowds at Yale, Har- nomics of a new tax cut. 'thai the majority of Americans vard, Virginia University, Colby, Thermonuclear Suicide? want peace. The problem lies in and other colleges. Tonight at Mr. Johnson also raises the lack of expression through the 7:45, in the HUB Ballroom, the question along with millions of present organized peace nv» e- • ISO will present Mr. Arnold Americans. "What does it take ! ment. Peace is a political affair Johnson, speaking on Uie "Com- to prevent thermonuclear sui- and leaving the demand for pe l ■ munist Viewpoint." cide?" "As part of tiie struggle in a minority protest movement, 'Second String' Leader for peaceful co-existence and in as the peace movement is today, At present Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • Watanabe Conducts Symphony Orchestra
    THE PRESS Sunday, August 4, ftof Page A-8 Steel Hour Stars Stock Market Analysis Today Based*upon the A. B. Gu- of a group of settlers heading An analysis of the stock therie, Jr's novel, KHJ-TV for the Blackfoot Indian coun­ market, entitled "Up and Up proudly presents the "Big try via keelboats. It Goes," will be presented Henny Youngman Sky," on its Theater Nine pre­ "The Big Sky" points up ivhen "Open End" screens to­ sentation of Sunday, August by the day, August 6, 0:30- p.m., 6th starting at 7:30 p.m. the hardships endured they strove to find Channel Eleven. The big outdoor western, settlers as Portrait of Joining host - moderator set during the 1830's. stars a new and better home in the David Susskinci at the round Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin vast unsettled and unexplored table will be: Gerald Loeb, and Elizabeth Threa'tt. section of the a Skidding senior partner, E. F. Hutton northwest It tells 1hn rioitmant slorv Fnilod States. and Co. Robert Bleibert. editor, Comic Slated Barrons Weekly. E. B. Burr, "The Golden Thirty," a executive vice president, One caring portrait of a comedian William Street Fund. whose career is on the skids, Luttrell Maclin, partner, will star Henny Youngman, Paine, Webber, Jackson and on the U. S. Steel Hour, Wed­ Curtis. nesday, August 9, at 10 p.m., Marvin Carton, executive PDT, via channel 2. Also star­ associate, Alien and Co. Lu- ring Keir Dullea and Nancy cien Hooper, investments Kovack, the teleplay, to be analyst and director of re­ seen "live," was written by search, W.
    [Show full text]
  • Music for the People: the Folk Music Revival
    MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE: THE FOLK MUSIC REVIVAL AND AMERICAN IDENTITY, 1930-1970 By Rachel Clare Donaldson Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History May, 2011 Nashville, Tennessee Approved Professor Gary Gerstle Professor Sarah Igo Professor David Carlton Professor Larry Isaac Professor Ronald D. Cohen Copyright© 2011 by Rachel Clare Donaldson All Rights Reserved For Mary, Laura, Gertrude, Elizabeth And Domenica ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would not have been able to complete this dissertation had not been for the support of many people. Historians David Carlton, Thomas Schwartz, William Caferro, and Yoshikuni Igarashi have helped me to grow academically since my first year of graduate school. From the beginning of my research through the final edits, Katherine Crawford and Sarah Igo have provided constant intellectual and professional support. Gary Gerstle has guided every stage of this project; the time and effort he devoted to reading and editing numerous drafts and his encouragement has made the project what it is today. Through his work and friendship, Ronald Cohen has been an inspiration. The intellectual and emotional help that he provided over dinners, phone calls, and email exchanges have been invaluable. I greatly appreciate Larry Isaac and Holly McCammon for their help with the sociological work in this project. I also thank Jane Anderson, Brenda Hummel, and Heidi Welch for all their help and patience over the years. I thank the staffs at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, the Kentucky Library and Museum, the Archives at the University of Indiana, and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress (particularly Todd Harvey) for their research assistance.
    [Show full text]
  • James Thurber and the Midwest
    James Thurber and the Midwest Stephen L. Tanner Because of his large role in shaping the tone and character of The New Yorker, a magazine synonymous with urban sophistication, James Thurber is sometimes viewed as an Eastern cosmopolite. This impression is misleading, for although he lived half his life in the East and New York City was the site of his literary success, he remained a partially unreconstructed Midwesterner. His journey from Columbus, Ohio, to New York City was one more example of the familiar pattern of the young man from the provinces who finds the metropolis a catalyst for his genius. But unlike the usual provincial once-removed, he was unashamed of his Midwestern roots and trailed Ohio with him. Among his New York friends he often told stories about his eccentric relatives and acquaintances in Columbus, impersonating the various characters. And of course some of his finest writing treats this same subject. In a 1953 speech accepting a special Ohio Sesquicenten- nial Career medal, he said, "It is a great moment for an Ohio writer living far from home when he realizes that he has not been forgotten by the state he can't forget," and added that his books "prove that I am never very far away from Ohio in my thoughts, and that the clocks that strike in my dreams are often the clocks of Columbus."1 In 1959, when Columbus was named an "All-American City," he wrote to the mayor, "I have always waved banners and blown horns for Good Old Columbus Town, in America as well as abroad, and such readers as I have collected through the years are all aware of where I was born and brought up, and they know that half of my books could not have been written if it had not been for the city of my birth."2 But if it is a mistake to view Thurber as an Eastern sophisticate, it is equally a mistake to infer from these glowing statements about Columbus that he 0O26-3O79/92/33O2-O61$1.5O/0 61 &^*4fc Jp*9 James Thurber, Courtesy of The Ohio State University Library.
    [Show full text]
  • We Rise Again Songs of Peace, Protest and Freedom
    Valentine‛s Day is just around the corner. Let that special someone know how much you care. E TH 10% off any arrangement Use discount code: RWC ™ Offer expires 06/30/2015 Enhance any occasion Balloon Deliveries Private / Corporate Event Decor Graduations Baskets 408) 370-1075 www.BalloonCrew.com Order Early Rainbow Women’s Chorus Staff Ruth Huber, Co-Artistic Director, Composer-in-Residence Ruth Huber was instrumental in founding both RWC and Tapestry Singers (the Austin Women’s Chorus). She holds three music degrees, including a Master of Music in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory, and has studied conducting at San Jose State University. Her compositions and songs have won awards from the American Choral Directors Association, the San Francisco ArtSong Competition, and the Austin Music Umbrella Songwriters Competition, and she receives commissions from choral groups around the country. A certified member of Music Teachers National Association, she teaches piano, serves as Music Director for Campbell United Congregational Church and resides in San Jose with her wife, Brenda Meng, and an assortment of adorable cats. Betsy Wagner, Co-Artistic Director, Choralographer Betsy Wagner has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education with a dual major in voice and piano from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA. She has been teaching music to students in grades K-12 since 1978. Since coming to the Bay Area in 1990, she has built an award-winning choir program at Morrill Middle School in San Jose. Betsy has been singing with Rainbow Women’s Chorus since 1997 and has been co-director since 2000.
    [Show full text]
  • Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94
    Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94 By Jon Pareles, The New York Times, 1/28 Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter who spearheaded an American folk revival and spent a long career championing folk music as both a vital heritage and a catalyst for social change, died Monday. He was 94 and lived in Beacon, N.Y. His death was confirmed by his grandson, Kitama Cahill Jackson, who said he died of natural causes at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Mr. Seeger’s career carried him from singing at labor rallies to the Top 10 to college auditoriums to folk festivals, and from a conviction for contempt of Congress (after defying the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s) to performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at an inaugural concert for Barack Obama. 1 / 13 Pete Seeger, Songwriter and Champion of Folk Music, Dies at 94 For Mr. Seeger, folk music and a sense of community were inseparable, and where he saw a community, he saw the possibility of political action. In his hearty tenor, Mr. Seeger, a beanpole of a man who most often played 12-string guitar or five-string banjo, sang topical songs and children’s songs, humorous tunes and earnest anthems, always encouraging listeners to join in. His agenda paralleled the concerns of the American left: He sang for the labor movement in the 1940s and 1950s, for civil rights marches and anti-Vietnam War rallies in the 1960s, and for environmental and antiwar causes in the 1970s and beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching the Short Story: a Guide to Using Stories from Around the World. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 397 453 CS 215 435 AUTHOR Neumann, Bonnie H., Ed.; McDonnell, Helen M., Ed. TITLE Teaching the Short Story: A Guide to Using Stories from around the World. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-1947-6 PUB DATE 96 NOTE 311p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 19476: $15.95 members, $21.95 nonmembers). PUB 'TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) Collected Works General (020) Books (010) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC13 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Authors; Higher Education; High Schools; *Literary Criticism; Literary Devices; *Literature Appreciation; Multicultural Education; *Short Stories; *World Literature IDENTIFIERS *Comparative Literature; *Literature in Translation; Response to Literature ABSTRACT An innovative and practical resource for teachers looking to move beyond English and American works, this book explores 175 highly teachable short stories from nearly 50 countries, highlighting the work of recognized authors from practically every continent, authors such as Chinua Achebe, Anita Desai, Nadine Gordimer, Milan Kundera, Isak Dinesen, Octavio Paz, Jorge Amado, and Yukio Mishima. The stories in the book were selected and annotated by experienced teachers, and include information about the author, a synopsis of the story, and comparisons to frequently anthologized stories and readily available literary and artistic works. Also provided are six practical indexes, including those'that help teachers select short stories by title, country of origin, English-languag- source, comparison by themes, or comparison by literary devices. The final index, the cross-reference index, summarizes all the comparative material cited within the book,with the titles of annotated books appearing in capital letters.
    [Show full text]